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How Technology and Entrepreneurship are Shaping the Development of Industries and Companies

Elgar original reference

Edited by François Thérin

Techno-entrepreneurship is broadly defined as the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities of both existing and nascent companies operating in technology-intensive environments. This second edition examines the latest trends in techno-entrepreneurship.

Chapter 18: The path to sustainable technological entrepreneurship

Handbook Chapter

Extract

This chapter focuses on a key issue which is of critical importance to society: sustainability. Sustainability issues are varied and can affect almost every aspect of human experience. They can range from consumption and production to energy, water and ecosystems. The United Nations Division of Sustainable Development provides a fairly broad categorization of sustainable development topics (www.un.org/esa/dsd). With the recognition of acutely depleting resources and increasing consumption, individuals, firms and institutions have begun to seek solutions that will result in greater equity between the demand and supply of resources. Such a resolution, it is hoped, will allow for a sustainable level of consumption, such that the ability for future generations to continue to have a similar quality of life remains intact. Following a solutions oriented approach, we introduce the role that technology entrepreneurs can play by providing innovative technical and design-oriented solutions to achieve sustainability. Further, we present transition management as a valuable governance framework to ensure that innovative technologies become widely diffused and adopted in society. When the full potential of important innovative solutions is not realized, it is a great loss to society. Such failures are due to the complex nature of technological innovation, interacting systems and varied stakeholders. It requires a systems approach for resolution. Transition management offers a proactive systems-level approach to the management of sustainable technological inventions that will help to shift the economy towards higher thresholds of sustainability. The rest of the chapter is organized in four sections.

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